


In My Dreams ...

by Annehiggins



Category: Marvel Avengers Movies Universe, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-15
Updated: 2012-08-15
Packaged: 2017-11-12 05:45:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/487379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Annehiggins/pseuds/Annehiggins
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes Tony missed the old days when he disliked Steve because, for the record, pining really sucked. But Pepper has an idea of how he can let Steve know how he feels without risking their friendship. Maybe. Written for <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks8M22XOoGE">this prompt</a> on the Avengerkink meme.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In My Dreams ...

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize to the OP if she wanted a more traditional lyric-heavy song fic, but I'm really not into those. However, I wanted to do something for her since her prompt led me to discover Robert Downy Jr. can really sing! Probably not news to most, but if you haven't heard it, try searching the song on YouTube. I don't provide the link here because it keeps changing!

[ ](http://pics.livejournal.com/anne_higgins/pic/000152r5/)

Sometimes Tony Stark missed the good old days when he'd disliked Steve Rogers or at least had a purely professional relationship with Captain America. But no, he'd had to go and decide he liked Rogers. Next thing he'd known Steve had started referring to Tony as his best friend and okay. Except Steve wasn't his best friend. That was Tony's former assistant and now CEO of his company, Pepper Potts. Although the treacherous woman was far too amused by his pain.

"It's all right with me if you say he's your best friend, too," she said with her default 'humoring Tony again' smile. "It won't hurt my feelings."

He shot her a look of pure dislike. "Given neither of us is twelve that was hardly the point."

That earned him her 'there was a point to all of this?' eyebrow lift. And damn her she _knew_ what he was trying to avoid saying, but wasn't going to let him get away with it.

But he had standard expressions, too. Didn't even need a Pepper-only one. Instead he used a generic 'you are out of your mind' glare.

She cheated and went back to work like running Stark Industries was more important than listening to him whine about his complicated relationship with Steve.

"Fine!"

Pepper glanced up with an expectant but cautious expression. Wise woman, because the furthest he would go was, "Pining sucks."

She seemed to deem this acceptable although her advice was hardly worth the effort, "So tell him you're in love with him."

He flinched at the L-word because it really had never worked out for him. Well, the romantic version. Until this moment the platonic-type he'd had going with Pepper had been awesome. "I can't do that." He used an 'and you know it, bitch' tone, but it was wasted on her. As usual.

"Why not?"

His eyes narrowed. He knew this ploy. She was trying to trick him into admitting he knew he wasn't good enough for Steve so she could give him the sad, disappointed look that would have him fleeing the office and leaving her in peace. But she had underestimated his desperation. "He's a teammate, Pep. Hell, he's the fucking leader! If it gets awkward between us, things could get fatal."

An overstatement perhaps, but it served to make his point – this was far worse, far more dangerous territory than a potential 'office' romance. She sighed, but abandoned all attempts to multitask and focused on him. "I'm almost certain he feels the same way."

"He might," Tony acknowledged the possibility but shied away from the 'almost certain' part. Only thing certain about any of this was nothing was. "But even if he does he might not be ready to know it."

"Tony, there were gay men in the 40s."

"And they were labeled sick deviants. Not something to embrace or march in parades over." He sighed. "Every time the subject comes up on the news he's stunned. Told me he can't believe it's acceptable to even talk about it."

"You're worried he's a homophobe?"

"No!" He both leapt to Steve's defense and to cut off a lecture on 'how dare he think Steve stood for anything but truth, justice, apple pie and equal rights.' "But there's a difference between accepting equal rights for all and maybe having leanings that way yourself."

"So you need a way to let him know you're interested without forcing him to notice if he doesn't want to?"

He nodded. "Exactly!" Her finally getting the impossibility of his situation so he could wallow while she made sympathetic noises almost made him cheer up, but her grin made him frown. He opted to restate his earlier point. "Pining sucks, but there's nothing I can do."

The sly edge to her smile made him rethink his position on a fast retreat, but too late. "Tony, you need to watch more _Glee!"_

What?

*

One of the last charities Maria Stark had established was an annual 'Sing for you Supper' benefit hosted by VH1. Guests had paid an outrageous sum to attend then had spent even more to get their peers to make fools of themselves on stage long before karaoke became all the rage. Over the years it had remained one of her foundation's most popular and profitable events. "How does this work again?" Steve asked as the Avengers plus Phil Coulson, Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis all settled at a table for which Tony had paid more than the GNP of most small countries. Technically he was the host and could have gotten it for free, but no way was he taking up that much space in the room without paying for it. Especially since this year's beneficiary was disaster relief for the damage caused by battles between supervillains and superheroes. Ouch! Although it had made getting the others to come along an easy sell.

"It works like an auction," Tony answered. "You can draft anyone in the room into singing with a $1,000 donation. But they can counter with an offer of their own to decline. Starts a bidding war that goes on until one side or the other wins."

Natasha scowled. "I'm an assassin, not a singer." It wasn't the first time she'd said that.

"No worries," Tony assured her. Again, then reminded her, "If you match your final bid, you can pick any of the real musicians to accompany you. And I'll cover it."

"And you do this every year?" Darcy asked, no doubt wondering why she'd never found the YouTube videos.

Pepper answered, "No, Tony manages to be on the other side of the planet every year. I told him he had to come this time."

If they hadn't been surrounded by photographers not to mention network cameras, Tony would have stuck his tongue out at her. He still thought her plan sucked epically, but she'd given him a deadline of two hours before airtime to think of something better and he hadn't. Still didn't make her idea a good one.

At least everyone had gone along enough to sing a little for JARVIS so he could match up the best song and 'helper' for each of the Avengers which meant, theoretically, no one would hunt Tony down afterward to skin him alive. He looked at all the cameras and changed that to 'very theoretically.' He wondered if it made him a bad person to hope Loki chose that evening to violate his parole? Preferably _before_ Nat had to sing. Deciding the odds weren't high enough to count on that, he opened a bar tab and had the first round of stiff drinks in front of everyone within minutes. "Remember, kids," he said, picking up his own glass of scotch, "the trick is to drink enough to drown the terror without wiping out all sense of self-preservation. Cheers!"

He sipped. Everyone else drank. Even Steve. Turned out Asgardian mead got super-soldiers drunk as easily as it did Norse gods, and Tony had made certain Thor had brought a couple of bottles along. Bruce drank iced tea, but he didn't have to sing. His real name wasn't well known and since the idea was to raise money for victims not to set up the potential for them, the organizers had agreed the invitations had stated drafting the Hulk was forbidden. They hadn't gone for the 'duh!' after the rule, but he figured it was a given.

The actual VH1 program would air the highlights the next weekend, but the evening itself was scheduled to last several hours. It didn't surprise any of them when the first of them was drafted almost as soon as things got underway. Natasha, of course. But what could anyone expect? She was the only female member and a stunningly beautiful woman. Made her stand out. Tony ended up spending $50,000 so she could sing _Bad Romance_ with Lady Gaga.

Steve was the next Avenger up. _I'm Proud to be an American Soldier_ with Lee Greenwood -- $48,000. Tony bid Thor up to $36,000 before letting him take the stage to sing an Asgardian battle song that wowed the crowd even if it was more yelling than singing. And no, Tony wasn't going to make a comment about that and modern music.

Pepper did _Turning Tables_ with Adele and it marked the beginning of a period of famous actors and business people 'performing.' Although it was nerves, not a lack of talent on Pep's part that had her buying a singing partner. For $46,000 Clint rocked out with Green Day to _American Idiot_ at the top of the next hour.

No one else at the table was known so everyone kept watching Tony all while making little snippy comments about how tone deaf he'd turn out to be and speculating on whether or not his busy brain could focus long enough to get through an entire song. "Scale of 1 to 10 with fingernails on a chalkboard being a 10, place your bets ladies and gents," Clint announced after his own turn on the stage.

Most went with an 8 or 9 -- a fairly safe bet since, all kidding aside, it did match the 'talent' on display so far, including theirs -- except for Pep who was awesome as usual. Steve opted for a politer 5. Pepper excused herself from the vote with a smile as enigmatic as it was calculated saying she'd heard him sing once when he was drunk, but she'd hold the pot. Coulson studied her for a few moments, then said, "I'm going with 2." Clint snorted, Nat rolled her eyes and everyone had a grand old time at his expense.

Tony didn't mind. It kept him entertained as the evening dragged on. And on. While VH1 veejays did all the intros and witty banter, it was a Stark event, so etiquette demanded he be the last non-performer drafted prior to a more professional musical wrap-up.

When the time came for last call, he made Bill Gates pay $300,000 to get Tony on stage. He matched it for the charity, but said he'd go it alone. That caused a bemused murmur among the crowd with the consensus of the remarks he overheard revolving around too much booze and too much ego. He said as much when he picked up the mic. "Guilty of the latter," he said with a smirk, "but my bartender can attest I've kept it to one tonight, so no drunken escapades. Sorry about that."

It earned him a laugh, but he noticed Steve looked worried like he wanted to have Tony's back but didn't know how to support him in this situation. To ward off a shout of 'Avengers, assemble!' Tony gave him a wink and chuckled when Steve blushed. "First, I want to thank everyone for coming tonight. I know my mother would have been thrilled with the turn out and your generosity.

"Now, anyone who knows me is expecting something loud and classic. But that's what I listen to, not what my voice can handle so I'm going back further and doing my own spin on something from the late 1950s."

He paused a moment for everyone to get quiet, then snapped his fingers a few times to set the tempo and lead into the melody. Mentally crossing those same fingers, he began, "In my dreams you told me that you really really care …"

Using a bluesy, torch-singer style he sang to a room full of people about how he dreamed Steve loved him, wanted to hold him and would never let him go. But he kept his gaze moving. Yes, it always returned to Steve, coaxing him into understanding for Tony the words were all too real, but it was a song and something they never had to acknowledge reflected truth if it was unwelcome.

It was Pepper's great _Glee!_ -plan – If you can't say it, sing it. She'd insisted it worked every time, but this wasn't a television series where Steve rose from the table and walked over to the stage to give him their first kiss after the final note. Instead the star-spangled-mystery sat and listened with the same open-mouthed amazement everyone else did without giving Tony a single sign he understood any deeper meaning between them. _"So hold me, hold me, hold me, and never ever let me go,"_ he finished, and he should be so lucky.

He got a mostly standing ovation and he had enough of an ego he used it to force a smile through his disappointment. He wondered if he could get pining turned into an Olympic sport or something.

"You son of a bitch," Clint said clapping him on the back when he reached the table, his huge grin denying the curse of any heat, while Coulson made a show of putting his winnings in his wallet.

"Never said I couldn't sing," he answered playing the smug bastard they all expected even as he planned the bonfire for all of Pepper's _Glee!_ DVDs. Sing it, his ass.

*

The videos of his singing went viral before the special even aired on VH1, and he got talked into recording a professional version with a link to donate to the Stark Foundation. Nothing more than him, an old-fashioned stand-mic and a spotlight – it proved surprisingly popular as even many of those who heckled it must have felt obligated to at least donate a dollar.

Naturally, his friends had a great time with it. Clint had a 'Black Sabbath eat your heart out' t-shirt made for him, while Nat had a photo of him printed up with a caption of 'Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, lounge singer.' Not to be outdone, Bruce gave him a new coffee mug with 'Hulk Think Tony Sing Good' plastered all over it. He glared at all of them after each and every gift presentation, but got even by giving the 'prototypes' to the Foundation to reproduce. At least the others hadn't gone Thor's route and had started an Internet petition for him to cut an album.

And Steve? He played the damned song almost non-stop until the need for variety made the others crab. Then he walked around with an iPod and earphones. For a week. Tony decided it was because he couldn't find the sort of vocal music he liked, so he relented on the album thing and sat down in a soundproof room with JARVIS and a list of songs he thought Steve would like. Again the results went to the Foundation's store and the buzz proved favorable. Nothing like having enough tech at his finger tips to do things crazy fast or the interest would have waned before he could have gotten the recording done.

After two weeks of listening to music Tony was egotist enough to assume was his own, but come to think of it he might have decided on something better, Steve walked into his workshop. "I like your versions better," he announced after watching Tony work for the better part of an hour. "At least the ones I found to compare them to. I couldn't find the originals of some of the songs."

Oh. "Um, that would be because I wrote them."

Steve did the gape-stare thing from the auction night. "It's just something I do sometimes when I'm too tired to work, but too wired to sleep. Like when you draw. Except … not as good."

"No!" Steve protested. "It's all great, Tony! You're really talented. But I was wondering about something."

"What?"

"The dedication on the site said, 'I was told to sing it, if I couldn't say it.' I've never known you to be at a loss for words."

He tried for a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders. Wasn't certain he pulled it off, but he followed it up with, "Sometimes no one wants to hear my words."

Steve gave him a long look that made him want to squirm. "Maybe it just takes time for them to get the words were meant for them."

It didn't happen often, and never since he'd reached adulthood, but Tony found himself unable to meet another's gaze and let his drop, his heart pounding so hard he almost didn't hear Steve add, "I figured out something else, too."

The touch of Steve's hand against his cheek made him lean into the warmth, then force himself to speak, "What?"

"I want your song to be my first dance."

God, he was not going to survive this man.

"Would you dance with me, Tony?"

He nodded, but gasped when Steve's hand shifted to rest on the small of his back. Worked out okay since he instinctively moved closer to Steve's broad chest, making it easy for him to coax Tony into the proper stance. "JARVIS?" Steve said, glancing toward the ceiling. "Play it for us, please."

"Of course, Captain," the AI answered, and the soft snap of Tony's fingers began.

Steve started to shuffle with the first words, then after a few lines, he softly sang along. He wasn't very good, intellectually Tony knew that, but his heart had never heard anything more beautiful in his life and he finally managed to look up into Steve's gaze to see the same hope and love in them that Tony had poured into the song.

He smiled and joined in on the last lines. _"Now my dreams have come true, I'm as happy as can be. For I know, in my heart, you won't take this love from me. So hold me, hold me, hold me, and never ever let me go."_

As the echo of the last word faded, their lips met.

  


**end**  


_In My Dreams_ by Gene Vincent

_In my dreams you told me that you really really care_  
In my dreams you told me it's a love that can't compare  
So hold me, hold me, hold me, and never ever let me go 

_In my dreams you told me it's a love that can't compare_  
In my dreams you told me it's a love you want to share  
So hold me, hold me, hold me, and never ever let me go 

_It seems that dreams are sometimes make believe_  
But now I know oh that they are real  
For in my dreams you said you love me  
And in reality you love me, love me, too 

_Now my dreams have come true, I'm as happy as can be_  
For I know, in my heart, you won't take this love from me  
So hold me, hold me, hold me, and never ever let me go 

_It seems that dreams are sometimes make believe_  
But now I know oh that they are real  
For in my dreams you said you love me  
And in reality you love me, love me, too 

_Now my dreams have come true, I'm as happy as can be_  
For I know, in my heart, you won't take this love from me  
So hold me, hold me, hold me, and never ever let me go 


End file.
